Turkey has decided that it needs its own Iron Dome. As The Jerusalem Post reported this week, Ankara has signed massive contracts with local defense companies to build up a multilayered “Steel Dome” air-defense system that officials openly compare to Israel’s Iron Dome.
NATO’s only Islamist-led member now wants the same kind of protection it has so often criticized when Israel uses it to defend its civilians from rockets.
On paper, there is nothing wrong with a country investing in missile defense. The region is dangerous, and many states face real aerial threats. But in Turkey’s case, the obvious question is: Who, exactly, is about to shower missiles on Ankara? From which enemy is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan trying to protect his country, and from which enemies is he really trying to protect his own regime?
Erdogan points to Israel instead of terrorist groups as destabilizing forces
According to the Turkish Defense Industry Agency, Steel Dome is needed because Israeli strikes on Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Qatar “unnerved” Ankara and proved that Turkey must strengthen its air defenses.
That explanation is revealing. Instead of confronting the terrorist groups and aggressive regimes that are truly destabilizing the region, Erdogan prefers to point the finger at the one democratic state that actually uses missile defenses to save lives: Israel.
Simultaneously, Erdogan is advocating for Turkey’s involvement in the post-conflict situation in Gaza. As this paper reported, he has spoken about joining a future international force in the Gaza Strip and positioning Ankara as a key player in any arrangements there. This is the same Erdogan whose country has for years given sanctuary, funding, and freedom of movement to Hamas operatives.
Israel’s answer should be clear. As the Post’s Herb Keinon argued in these pages, if Turkey wants operational access to Israel, it must first remove Hamas’s operational access to Turkey. Until that happens, Jerusalem cannot afford to let Ankara pose as a responsible stakeholder in Gaza or in Jerusalem. Turkey is not acting like a partner; it is acting like an adversary that still expects the benefits and legitimacy that come with NATO membership.
Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli has already drawn the logical conclusion. At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, he called for Turkey’s consulates and other official missions in Israel to be shut, describing Ankara’s conduct as “enemy state” behavior because of its overt support for Hamas and its incitement against Israel.
The problem, however, is not only Turkey’s foreign policy. A new report highlighted by the Post paints a grim picture for religious minorities in Turkey, including the country’s tiny Jewish community.
The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need describes growing hostility, hate speech, and state-favored Sunni Muslim policies that have intensified since the October 7 massacre. This is the real dome Erdogan has built over his country: not a shield against missiles, but a thick atmosphere of intimidation directed at dissenters and minorities.
A Turkey in which nostalgia for Hitler can surface in local politics and Jewish institutions become targets for angry crowds is not one that faces danger from Israel. It is a Turkey that manufactures danger at home and exports it abroad through Hamas offices in Istanbul and neo-Ottoman posturing across the region.
Why, then, does Ankara want a Steel Dome? Partly for prestige. Erdogan has long sold Turkish voters an image of a rising regional power, complete with indigenous drones, warships, and now a homegrown air-defense umbrella. Partly, too, because he understands that his aggressive policies toward Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and the Kurds carry real risks. If you pick fights across the neighborhood, sooner or later, you start to worry that one of your neighbors might hit back. Steel Dome is insurance against the consequences of Erdogan’s own choices.
Iron Dome was built to protect Israeli civilians from enemies that openly declare their intention to wipe Israel off the map. While the president of Turkey is constructing the Steel Dome, he is spending more time attacking Israel from podiums than confronting the extremists within his own borders.
Defensive systems are legitimate, but they do not absolve an aggressive leader of responsibility for the instability he stirs up. As long as Hamas leaders find refuge in Istanbul and antisemitism is allowed to flourish, and as long as Erdogan uses Israel as a domestic scapegoat, no number of radars and interceptors will make it truly safe.
The real security Turkey needs is not a steel dome in the sky, but a change in the politics inside the presidential palace in Ankara.